Finished Object – L.A.M.B. Inspired Hat [NaBloPoMo]

Spent the day not doing some house projects I’d hoped to get around to – seemed like a good day to kick back and just chill a bit….So I spent the time I’d planned on doing some Fall Clearing Out working up this hat.  It’s a variation on the L.A.M.B inspired hat on Ravelry.  (Modeled by my ever fabulous yet very serious youngest.)

I decided to use Caron Eco Soft just ’cause. Figured it was worth a whirl, and would turn out with a nice texture/feel. It did, but based on the exact pattern it’s a bit small for me – which is a shame, as it’s kinda fun.

I was thinking of gifting it, but it’s a bit funky for most of the potential recipients I can think of. I may give it to Eldest Son’s girlfriend – she *does* have a birthday coming up and she’s a petite little thing. I’ve no doubt it’d fit her well. My only thought is whether she’d like it….Hmm.

LOL – on the other hand, Youngest just reminded me that *his* birthday is in a few days as well, and he’s pretty fond of the hat as well.  He has just enough panache to pull it off, too – da boy knows how to wear clothes.  Certainly doesn’t get that from me. o.O

Two more pics are below – sorry that last one is blurry – as you might be able to tell, I took these in a hurry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FO Frustrations [NaBloPoMo]

I took a “mental health day” today – decided to sit and work on April Draven’s Star Slouchy Hat pattern.

I frogged the green band at the bottom more times than I care to admit trying to get the decrease down – the way it’s “supposed to be done was just sliding off whatever part of my head I put it on.  I tried the suggested variation for a tighter fit, to no avail, so I fooled around for *way* longer than I care to admit trying to make this work. I ended up just finishing off the post stitches and finishing the hat off.  I *think* it was just too small thru the top – that’s my best guess.  I’m going to fool with the basic idea – good practice at least, and I kinda like the 32 bit pseudo-glow in the dark thing.

This project made me very aware I have a great deal to learn – I look forward to understanding what to do with in a situation like this, one of these days!

Adventures in Mistakes [NaBloPoMo]

Looks like I’d better get on the ball if I’m going to get this post in today, for NaBloPoMo. o.0 Whew. I wanted inspiration to write more, but ZOMG, ya know?

I’ve been crocheting like mad – working on different projects, trying to improve my technique and also really enjoying learning to *make* things!  I’ve got some mistakes and tribulations to share, as well as some really basic FOs, but not today, methinks – thought I’d stick to showing you a couple of hats.

Firstly, I should mention I mostly taught myself to crochet with the Klutz Learn to Crochet kit book.   I love that book – it’s the one I kept referring to when I was trying to sort out the basic stitches – lots of good pics and good descriptions. *However* I never really groked the front loop, back loop, both loops thing and I pretty much taught myself using just the front loop.  I’m sure you can imagine what my (newbie) projects all look like.  o.0

When I got Crochet the Complete Guide the first thing I started working on was the Basic Single Crochet Hat pattern.  However, I knew I wasn’t going to have enough yarn (part of a skein of Caron’s Simply Soft Eco in Ocean), so I didn’t make the hat anywhere near as long as it should have been.  Also, since all my stitches went into the front loop, the texture came up very differently than Ms. Davis intended.  Still, my Eldest seemed pleased enough:

A couple more silly pics of said hat and boy:

Hopefully I didn’t crop these too small for you to  see the ribbed effect my stitches gave the hat. Ah well, I learned something, and it’s warm, and he seems happy enough with it, so it’s all good, yes?

Anyhoo, I was reading The Complete Guide when I came across a note about how, unless specified, the hook always goes through both loops.  Whoo-boy.  After an educational spin around YouTube (Lots of good crochet how-to videos there!) I took a couple of minutes to oh, roll my eyes and sigh dramatically, but then I took to working on new projects that involved really basic stitches.  One of them was a rework on this same pattern using Peaches & Creme Shaded Denim worsted weight. (have a big cone of it I got for $3 bucks @ Wally-World).  Things went swimmingly for a while:

About 5 steps after this, however, I crocheted half a row just in the front stitch.  It looked *really* wonky, so I frogged it back to the mistake and promptly lost track of my increases.  I have *no* idea how I should have recovered from this – it was really hard work counting all those stitches and looking for increases.  If anyone has advice on this I’m all ears!

I eventually decided to salvage what I had done, quit making increases, and just finished the hat off for Youngest Son.  It’s not perfect, but I think it turned out well enough, and YS is pleased:

See you tomorrow!